There's an old saying in the tech world: "Data will always expand to fill available space." This was as true before computers even had hard drives as it is today, and any clear-eyed look at the way we use our PCs suggests it will be every bit as accurate in the years and decades to come. Once upon a time, it was unthinkable that we could ever store lengthy, high-quality videos on PCsbut now we can, and we're constantly running out of disk space because of them. Keeping up with it is one of the most challenging parts of keeping current today, but there's no way around it.

Although you can supplement whatever storage came in your computer with an external hard drive, the cleanest and most convenient way to do so (assuming you don't care whether you can cart your files around with you) is by installing a new drive yourself. Like most elements of PC building it's a process that might sound scary at first, but is actually incredibly easy. (Even if you've never done it before, you can finish up in ten minutes or less.) If you have a Phillips screwdriver, you have all you need for the joband, in a number of cases, you might not even need that.

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If you don't have a hard drive or a solid-state drive (SSD) to install, but you know you need one, reading our stories "How to Buy an Internal Hard Drive" and "How to Buy an Internal SSD" would be good places to start. But once you have your drive, regardless of which kind it is and what kind of computer you'll be installing it in, this story will explain what you need to do to get it installed and get it hooked up. Filling it with data, however, is up to you.

Matthew Murray got his humble start leading a technology-sensitive life in elementary school, where he struggled to satisfy his ravenous hunger for computers, computer games, and writing book reports in Integer BASIC. He earned his B.A. in Dramatic Writing at Western Washington University, where he also minored in Web design and German. He has been building computers for himself and others for more than 20 years, and he spent several years working in IT and helpdesk capacities before escaping into the far more exciting world...
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